AFebruaryPih9ir™'}    Estimation  of  Alcohol  in  Spirituous  Liquors, 
cations  were  also  formed  in  the  following  days,  with  development  of 
characteristic  conidia. 
These  results  show  that  no  fear  need  be  entertained  of  ordinary 
cocoa  butter  becoming  mouldy  from  the  cause  under  investigation, 
provided  it  is  kept  free  from  water.  If,  however,  water  finds  its 
way  into  the  cocoa  butter — and  especially  if  the  water  contains  sub- 
stances, probably  of  a  nitrogenous  nature,  which  can  serve  as  food 
for  the  fungus — then  there  is  a  real  danger  of  the  cocoa  butter  be- 
coming mouldy. 
Chemical  investigation  showed  that  the  acid  value  of  the  mouldy 
butter  was  about  13,  but  this  was  largely  due  to  the  presence  of  the 
fungoid  material,  for  the  acid  value  of  the  butter  after  filtering 
through  paper  was  only  3.8.  This  figure,  although  comparatively 
low,  nevertheless  indicates  a  certain  amount  of  free  fatty  acid  in  the 
butter,  and  suggests  the  probability  of  the  appearance  of  rancidity  if 
the  growth  of  the  fungus  is  unchecked. 
The  greater  part  of  the  experimental  portion  of  this  investiga- 
tion was  carried  out  in  the  Department  of  Botany  of  the  University 
of  Bristol. 
A  SIMPLE  AND  RAPID  METHOD  FOR  THE  ESTIMATION 
OF  ALCOHOL  IN  SPIRITUOUS  LIQUORS.1 
By  Nagendra  Chandra  Nag,  M.A.,  F.I.C.,  and  Panna  Lal,  M.Sc. 
The  method  for  the  estimation  of  alcohol  described  below  is  the 
result  of  an  investigation  to  devise  a  simple  method  for  its  estima- 
tion with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy,  avoiding  distillation. 
The  method  consists  of  treating  a  known  quantity  of  spirituous, 
liquor  in  a  glass  tube  graduated  in  tenths  of  a  Cc.  (or  finer  gradua- 
tion if  procurable)  with  an  excess  of  anhydrous  potassium  carbon- 
ate, adding  about  5  to  10  per  cent,  of  water  in  case  the  percentage 
of  alcohol  is  above  90.  The  mixture  is  then  thoroughly  shaken  and 
allowed  to  settle  (or  preferably  centrifuged),  when  it  will  separate 
into  a  lower  layer  of  solid  potassium  carbonate,  a  middle  layer  of 
saturated  solution  of  potassium  carbonate,  and  an  upper  layer  of 
alcohol  hydrate  corresponding  with  the  formula  4C2H5OH,  H20, 
as  will  appear  from  the  experimental  results  given  below.  The 
1  Reprinted  from  Jour,  of  the  Soc.  of  Chemical  Industry,  Sept.,  1918. 
